Pennsylvania works on road safety plan as feds push for fewer fatalities
By Anthony Hennen | The Center Square
HARRISBURG, PA — A federal mandate requires Pennsylvania to create a plan on how it will protect residents along its roads, and community meetings will be held over the next few months to gather more information.
PennDOT’s Pedalcycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee met on Tuesday, discussing the progress of its Vulnerable Road User Safety Assessment, which will be a plan on how to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists along high-risk areas.
Federal law requires the plan to be published by November 15, explaining how PennDOT will reduce fatal and serious injury crashes.
“Vulnerable road users are particularly susceptible to being killed or injured in a crash, and they account for a growing share of all transportation fatalities, both in Pennsylvania and in the United States,” said Jeff Riegner, a consultant for Kittelson & Associates, whom PennDOT hired for the plan.
The plan will analyze six years of crash records from PennDOT, along with “tens of thousands” of records manually included from police records, online mapping, and video logs to identify high-risk areas and the risk factors that lead to crashes with pedestrians and cyclists.
Accounting for human mistakes, Riegner noted, was essential for avoiding crashes. Taking a “Swiss cheese” approach from the Federal Highway Administration “creates layers of protection” to stop injuries from happening. Slowing down traffic, designing roads to be safer, and better-educating motorists and pedestrians are all part of that approach.
Through July, Kittelson & Associates will analyze data to identify high-risk areas, then hold meetings during July and August with a variety of local governments, regional transportation groups, community groups, and others to inform the plan. In September, it will present its findings to the pedalcycle and pedestrian committee before submitting a final draft for PennDOT’s review in mid-October.
PPAC members wanted to get more information on how PennDOT spends money to improve road safety already.
“I would just like more information,” Sarah Stuart of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia said. “How much money is actually being spent, where is that going across the state, how is that being — how are they being distributed, what does that mean?”
Pedestrian deaths have increased by more than 20% in Pennsylvania since 2019, as The Center Square previously reported. Traffic fatalities in general have reached decades-long highs in recent years as well; some safety advocates point to larger vehicles and road design that prioritizes speed over safety as leading causes.
